I didn’t post contentious tweets nor wanted to defame institution, Swati

State, FIA Cybercrime technical assistant Anees-Ur-Rehman are cited as respondents in petition in IHC

In a post-arrest bail plea submitted to the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Saturday the attorney for imprisoned Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Senator Azam Swati has claimed that he did not post any contentious tweets against high military personnel and did not want to defame any honourable institution.

After being detained in Islamabad by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for a very offensive campaign of threatening tweets against state institutions he was jailed on November 27. Due to his tweets criticizing army personnel Swati was booked and taken into custody by the FIA for the second time in less than two months.

The senator applied for bail at a special court in Islamabad earlier this week. However, Special Judge Central Azam Khan dismissed the plea ruling that he had committed the same offence twice.

Swati then opposed the special court’s rulings by filing a post-arrest bail plea at the IHC on Saturday through his attorney Babar Awan.

The state and Anees-Ur-Rehman, a technical assistant at the FIA’s Cybercrime Reporting Center in Islamabad, are cited as respondents in the petition.

According to the bail plea a hostile regime’s political influence caused Swati to be falsely accused and proceedings against him were filed with a mala-fide motive. The petition stated that Swati had previously been placed in the custody of the FIA but that nothing incriminating had been found on him.